Voyage of the Valkyrie

by Robert Horseman

  “My god, we won’t have to. We have a dozen generation-two Helios missiles aboard.”

  Mac frowned. She hadn’t studied weapon systems in any depth at the academy. “What are Helios missiles?”

  “Very old tech, in fact I have never seen any myself. They were largely replaced with energy and particle beam weapons. What’s special about them is that they are stealthy and can be prepositioned in a sleep mode, or set up to follow a target. “

  “And launched against the target on command?” asked Mac.

  “Yeah. It’s like putting a gun against an opponent’s head.”

  “You said old tech. How old? Will they still work?”

  “Good point. They have to be at least seventy or eighty years old, and I don’t have any diagnostics.”

  Rae said, “You do now. I have uploaded a Helios-two diagnostic program.”

  Cale turned back to his console and punched a few icons. “Thanks Rae, running it now.” He studied readouts for several long moments. “Damn, ten of them appear to be inert. The other two are responding to interrogation. At least that’s something.”

  Mac said, “Rae, I’m assigning those missiles to you. Launch them and position them near the Redshift vessel. Target propulsion and any major weapons systems. Fire them if you can disable the vessel without endangering any of our crew that may be aboard. We’ll be out of communications range in a minute, so we won’t be able to monitor and react while we are blind. I’m counting on you to use good judgment.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  The platform shuddered, and Mac turned to stare out the viewport. “I can’t see a thing. Did we launch?”

  Cale touched for a status update. “Yeah, they’re away. If you had seen anything, it would have defeated the purpose of stealth. They seem to be tracking properly.”

  Rae said, “I have control of the missiles. Twenty seconds to communications blackout.”

  “Last thing—see if you can make contact with the Captain through his audio implant, or anyone else from our crew that might still be aboard the Redshift vessel. Let them know we are working on a rescue.”

  The drone’s humanoid appearance dissolved once again, leaving the thin metal framework. Cale said, “Geez, that’s creepy. Mac, do you think it’s wise to trust two missiles to an AI?”

  “I have no idea, but it is our best option. The Valkyrie wouldn’t stand a chance in a conventional fire fight with that big ship. A least with the missiles, she might be able to disable them from long range with minimal risk to the ship.”

  Chapter 13, Platform 2

  “Cale, while I get this tin can moving, please see if you can find some food and water, and a couple of stims would be great. I’m running on vapors. Oh, and figure out what that creep used for head facilities.”

  “Right, I’m on it.” Cale got up from his chair and went into the inner compartments. She could hear him pulling open cabinets and occasional exclamations as he found interesting items. Meanwhile she brought up navigation control, and saw that Rae had included a familiar software upgrade for that system as well. She’d have to thank the AI for it later, assuming they got through the next day alive.

  The propulsion & navigation diagnostics showed all systems in the green, except for one yellow overdue maintenance light, which she ignored. At least it wasn’t red. She sat back in her seat and considered their next move. If they went straight to the Valkyrie, the enemy might call in reinforcements from the other platform and outflank them. If they took out the other platform first, then the enemy in their big ship would know they were coming. Unless…”

  She turned and considered the drone, which still had a secondary arm plugged into the rear of the console. “Rae, did you record any visuals or audio of this station’s former crew member?”

  “I have a small audio sample. I went into sleep mode on your capture as ordered, so I did not record any visuals.”

  “If I make an audio transmission, can you alter my voice to sound like his?”

  “Yes, however my local processing capability is limited. There would be a three second transmission delay while I reprocess your speech due to differences in your speech pattern and vocal frequency.”

  That wasn’t going to work. Even a one second delay might be suspicious. Cale returned from the inside compartments, his hands full of small packages. “The guy ate junk. It’s all prepackaged dehydrated, de-tastified fiber. It’ll keep us going for a while, but I’d hate to live on the stuff. There’s plenty of drinking water though. They installed a distiller that condenses moisture out of the air recycler. As far as bathroom facilities, there are none. From the stench in one of the compartments, I gather he was using a bucket and dumping the waste into a portable recycler. It’s unpleasant but we won’t be here long anyway.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Right?”

  “Only as long as necessary. Hand me a couple of the food-like items. Did you find any stims?”

  “Yes.” He tossed over a few food packets and a stim. “The stims are about a year past expiration, but should still have some effect.”

  She bit into the food bar, and instantly regretted it. Chewing turned it into a tasteless paste, and she struggled to swallow. Cale handed her a water bottle, and she drank in great gulps. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she had been.

  She peeled off the stim’s liner and taped it to her cheek, since the suit left little skin exposed. Her cheek was instantly itchy, so she knew it was working. “It feels active, thanks. Look, this is going to be dicey, and we’re stretched thin. I’m going to need you for more than just weapons. We’re going to attack the other platform first.”

  Cale slumped into the console chair. “Won’t that raise the alarm? When we get back down to the Valkyrie’s orbit, they’ll be waiting for us.”

  Mac grinned. “Maybe. Then again, maybe not. I need you to make a distress call for me.”

  ***

  “Ten minutes to line-of-sight with the second platform,” announced Rae’s drone. “The Valkyrie and Redshift vessel will remain beyond visual and communications range during our pass.”

  “Okay, here we go,” said Mac. “Initiating tumble. Rae, begin non-critical systems power fluctuations.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Mac touched the maneuvering controls, and the big defense platform began to spin and tumble. Fortunately, the bizarre assemblage of weapons had been bolted onto the salvaged platform’s hull without due consideration for fields of fire. Cale had identified four weapons systems that were inoperable, and had obliterated them with other particle beam weapons. He had also scorched the hull in wide swaths in the process, although the actual damage was far less than it appeared. The overall effect made it look like the platform had been in a fierce fight, or so Mac hoped.

  “Rae, start the pre-recorded distress call on low power.”

  “Broadcasting. Entering visual range.” said Rae.

  Mac concentrated on the displays, which showed an exterior compensated view from various linked sensors. The spinning raw feed would have left her ill.

  A voice crackled from the communications panel. “Rafe, what the hell is going on? You okay over there? Rafe, can you hear me? Goddamn it, you’re on a collision course. I’m moving my platform up a few hundred meters. Don’t change course.”

  Mac watched as thruster fog streamed from under the other platform, and it rose slowly out of their path. “Are you ready?” she asked Cale.

  “Locked and loaded. At this range, the class five particle cannon will cut her clean in half with no chance of a distress call.”

  “Good. Do you need me to stop the tumble?”

  “No. There’s no point in giving him any cause to sound the alarm until it’s too late.”

  Mac paced back and forth at the viewport, her fists clenched to the point of leaving marks in her palms. It hurt, but it also helped keep her focused. “Fire just after we pass. I want to be moving away from the debris.”

  “You got it.”

  “Didn�
�t you mean, Yes Ma’am?”

  “Yes ma’am, you got it.”

  Mac grinned. He seemed to be trying to lower the stress level, and she appreciated that. “Such insubordination. I may have to report you. Or not.” She looked back out the viewport, and saw that they were rolling under the other platform. She let a dozen heartbeats pound in her chest, then said, “Fire as you bear.”

  The com panel emitted a static burst, then the voice from the other platform said, “Rafe, are you there? Your platform looks damaged. Do you need help?”

  Cale said, “Five seconds to complete rotation, three, two, one, firing.”

  The lights dimmed and a ghostly beam of iridescent blue lanced out and cut into the other platform. Where it touched the unarmored underside, violent explosions and jets of glowing ionized particles fountained out. The beam arced past the midpoint of the platform, which shuddered before the two halves tore apart, trailing shredded bulkheads and conduits. Gouts of glowing plasma from the breached power core vaporized everything they touched. An unsuited body floated out with the debris, then a powerful explosion sent fireworks in every direction. Mac collapsed into the navigator’s chair, and put her head in her hands. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks in unexpected streams.

  Cale’s hand fell on her shoulder. “Hey Mac, are you okay? We had to do it. You know that, right? They are the ones who started all this.”

  Her reaction was unexpected. She had trained for this at the academy, but had never pulled the trigger for real before. Cale had killed the Rafe creep, not her. This time it was her orders, and her responsibility. Heartbeats pounded in her ears. She stood abruptly, turned to Cale, and hugged him.

  “Don’t tell anyone, okay?” she whispered in his ear.

  “Tell them what, exactly?”

  “Good answer.” Stims were known to cause emotional outbursts, and she preferred to believe that was the case here. Cale was being supportive, and without a word he had returned her embrace. Now she released him, stepped back, and took a deep calming breath. “That was the easy part. That big Redshift vessel will see us coming as we descend to match orbits. With this much mass to move with maneuvering thrusters, we’ll cross tracks at least three times before we’re in weapons range. I’m hoping they will think we’re coming down to help. But while we didn’t hear a distress call from the other platform, someone on the ground could have seen the explosions and reported it. Confusion is our ally, but there is no guarantee. This is going to be dicey.”

  “What’s our play?”

  “We have a hidden ally.”

  “Rae?”

  “Yeah Rae, and don’t forget the Helios missiles.”

  The lights flickered, then everything went dark. Mac swore as her feet floated off the floor. “Damn it, not again. Now what?”

  Chapter 14, The Core

  Red emergency lights came on, and Mac found herself floating near the ceiling. Cale was still belted into his seat, and sat looking up at her. He said, “Sorry Mac. I think we burned out a bunch of cells in the power core with that particle cannon blast. With any luck there should be a few that didn’t get fried. If we can pull out the bad ones and regroup what’s left, there might be some power left. It all depends on the extent of the damage.”

  Mac pushed off the ceiling, drifted down toward the console, and caught Cale’s chair. “Do you know where it is?”

  “It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Follow me.”

  “Just a second.” She turned to Rae’s drone, who remained plugged into the console. “Are you still active?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “We’re going to try and restore power in the core, which might be contaminated with corrosive agents. You are our only link to Rae on the Valkyrie, so I can’t risk you. I want you to stay here and stabilize the power system if we manage to get it back up.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Cale unbuckled and pushed off toward the inner compartments. Mac followed, grabbing and pushing off as lightly as possible to avoid unexpected spins and tumbles. They traversed a radial hallway that dead-ended at a pressure door. A faded sign read, Authorized Personnel Only. Radiation Hazard Level 3.

  Cale said, “These stealth suits can handle interstellar radiation a lot more severe than level 3. We should be fine as long as we seal our suits. I’m pretty low on suit power, but we won’t be in hard vacuum so it should be enough.”

  They pulled their hoods back over their heads and reactivated their suits. Mac nodded when all her indicator lights came up green, and Cale cracked the pressure door open using the manual crank. Air hissed through the narrow gap for half a minute before the minor pressure difference equalized, and Cale cranked it open the rest of the way.

  The compartment beyond was a tall cylindrical trunk that ran through the vertical central axis of the platform, and lit by dim red emergency lighting. Cale pointed down. “I think the commercial power core is down there.” He pushed off and Mac followed.

  They found the power core about six meters below the compartment entrance. It was tiny, at least compared to the available space. Part of that was because the platform’s original military power core was old technology that took up quite a bit more space. It was also obvious, though, that this core was far from adequate. She recognized the model as one normally used in shuttles and other medium duty applications, which was no doubt where it came from.

  “My god,” said Cale. “If I’d known it was this weak I’d never have used the particle cannon. Damn, this is my fault. Rae said something about it, and I didn’t pay enough attention. Sorry Mac.”

  “What’s done is done. Let’s just see if we can salvage any of it. My father had one of these on our family farm, and I spent a lot of time keeping it running.”

  “You grew up on a farm, and ended up here?”

  “Yup. There’s nothing like growing up on a farm to instill the urge to leave.”

  “Apparently you’re the expert then. So what do we do?”

  Mac flipped the master control lever down to shut off whatever power was left in the core array, then popped the service panel open and peered inside. Her suit’s headlamp illuminated the tops of the core’s forty-eight power cells in their slots. At least two-thirds showed tell-tale charring on the inside of their inspection windows. “Lots of dead cells, but there should be enough left for minimal power. I don’t see any leakage, so containment wasn’t compromised and we can unseal our suits. Thank god for small miracles.”

  Over the next twenty minutes, Mac and Cale removed and inspected all the cells one at a time, discarded the burned ones, and plugged the remaining six live cells into the first set of slots. Mac closed the panel, and keyed her mike.”Rae, can you hear me?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “I’m going to restore power now. Let me know if you see any power spikes.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  They braced themselves for the return of artificial gravity, then Mac pushed the main power lever back to the on position. Nothing happened for several anxious heartbeats, then lights flickered on in a sequence starting from the top of the compartment. Gravity came back in a moment, and both of them stumbled as their feet dropped a few inches to the deck.

  Cale looked around and grinned. “Back in business.”

  Mac let out a deep breath. “Yeah, let’s hope so.”

  ***

  Ten minutes later they were back in the command area, and they both wordlessly plugged their suits into the console’s power jacks. Apparently they both had the same thought, that they might be jumping into space again before too long. Mac stared at the monitors as they approached an orbital crossing with the Valkyrie and Redshift vessels’ last known position.

  Mac said, “I’m going to leave us tumbling and transmitting the distress call. One shot from the enemy, even from their high orbit, could do serious damage in our current condition. We’ll just have to play dead and cross our fingers.”

  “The power level is still fluctuating, so I suppose
that’s good,” said Cale. “Or maybe that’s bad since I’m not doing it.”

  Mac’s heartbeat raced. She knew the early warning signs of an imminent panic attack from first-hand experience, and forced it away with a series of deep breaths. She doubted any rookie ensign had ever been in a command situation this extreme, and she felt ill-equipped for it. She unclenched her hands and shook them to loosen her cramped muscles.

  When the Valkyrie appeared around the planet’s horizon below them a few minutes later, Mac let out an astonished gasp. “Where’s the Redshift vessel?”

  “I don’t see it on sensors,” said Cale.

  “Rae, reestablish a tight-beam with the Valkyrie.”

  Rae’s holographic projection reinitialized, and she said, “Ah. I see you are still alive. Excellent. I wasn’t sure, given the apparent condition of the platform. What happened? Your power level readings are very low.”

  “You were right about the commercial power core,” said Mac. “We burned out ninety percent of the power cells in one particle cannon shot. We destroyed the other platform, but now we’re running on just six cells. The exterior damage to the platform was our own doing for camouflage. Where is the Redshift vessel? Where is our crew?”

  “While they were docked here, they sent a series of shuttles to the surface. I pinged all of the crew’s audio transponders as they departed, so they’re all down now except you two. I sent a message to the Captain and several others, but did not receive a response. I suspect they were all unconscious. If true, they will get your message when they wake.”

  “If they wake,” said Cale under his breath. Mac frowned at him, then looked back at Rae’s drone. “Is there still an enemy crew aboard the Valkyrie?”

  “Yes, they left four techs who are still trying to get into my system. They seem pretty frustrated.”

  “Can you disable them? Since no one else is aboard, can’t you simply drop hazine into the ventilation system?” Hazine was a colorless and odorless gas that put people to sleep quickly, even in small concentrations. Its use was restricted in the UDA, and raised the possibility of a board of inquiry later. There were few options in their current situation, though.